Chapter 119
At This Late Hour
“Who do you think you are?”
“…….”
Indeed, who did she think he was… Olivia, who had been certain it was Edgar, blinked slowly, almost in a daze, and when she opened her eyes, darkness seemed to flood the night street as a man in a black suit stepped in with effortless composure.
“W-wait a moment.”
Olivia, flustered, tried to block him, but she was no match for a man crossing the entrance hallway with such confidence.
“This is troublesome.”
Finally turning around at the center of the parlor, the man stopped.
“I never gave you permission to enter. Please leave.”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I bought this place.”
“…….”
Johann replied casually. Olivia, stunned, just stared at him. The man claiming to have purchased the Dixon townhouse looked not just calm, but brazenly bold.
“Shall we sit? After all, I’m technically the owner.”
Olivia had no words to respond. The man’s audacity twisted her gut, but she forced herself to keep her expression composed and asked the purpose of his visit.
“Why are you here?”
“Sit.”
He gestured with his chin to the sofa across from him. Olivia stood her ground and didn’t move. Clashing again with a man she shouldn’t be entangled with was not something she wanted. The sudden thought of Margaret Wellington also came to mind.
“State your purpose.” Olivia said coldly.
Under the chandelier’s light, their gazes locked. The intensity was overwhelming, yet she did not flinch and stared directly at him.
“Your stubbornness hasn’t changed. I like that.”
Johann said in a low voice, a smirk tugging at his lips. His eyes roamed over Olivia with obvious desire.
“If you have no purpose, then please leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere. This is my house.”
With a shameless expression, he closed the distance. Olivia instinctively stepped back as Johann took a bold step forward. The ceiling light fell brightly over her chestnut hair, illuminating her face—it was breathtaking.
“Let’s start over.”
“…….”
“Let’s start over, Olivia.”
For a moment, Olivia felt the world flip upside down. She was dumbfounded. She had run away for a reason… yet here she was, retreating instinctively, widening the distance between them. His gaze, pouring over her like starlight, took her breath away.
The sound of autumn wind rustling the leaves in Royal Park struck the dark glass window. Olivia could no longer endure the deepening silence.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but please go back.”
She forced herself to suppress her shock and cling to reason, but her voice betrayed her trembling. She was utterly confused. “Start over” again… for what? She didn’t understand.
“If you wanted to go alone, I wouldn’t have come. Let’s go together.”
Johann remained calm. He acted as naturally as a husband picking up his wife who had gone out, as if no divorce had ever happened.
“Do you think that makes sense?” Olivia’s cheeks twitched.
“Why wouldn’t it?”
His gray eyes, watching her intently, were sharp. Olivia stared blankly. She swallowed a sigh and slowly spoke.
“I’m leaving. As I promised Lady Wellington. So, if you don’t want to put me in a difficult position, don’t act like this.”
“You want me to chase after you? Then I will.”
His gray eyes, full of Olivia, were as deep and calm as the silence between them.
It had just been the queen’s command and a deal with the crown prince. He wanted the title, obtained it, and had been indifferent to the wife who came with it. And yet… why?
Olivia’s gaze faltered.
“Why… are you doing this?”
“Let’s start over.”
He seemed like a broken machine, stuck repeating the same command. Olivia let out a thin whimper and squeezed her eyes shut. Johann watched silently. His own ridiculousness amused him.
I never loved you. Yet I never once imagined you would leave me. And yet… why now, you? After it’s all over, why now… you?
“I love you, Johann. I like you so much.”
She came to him shyly, lying beneath him with her face flushed. The countless days he had clung to her… now it was his turn, he rationalized.
“Say what you want. Kneel if you want. Crawl and beg if you want. Or… should I strike you?”
He spoke cynically, watching Olivia slowly clench her small hands. Under the lamp light, her bright blue eyes were wistful, like a sunset over a lake.
“If there had been a chance to start over with you, I wouldn’t have divorced. Not this very moment with you… it’s unbearable. So please, don’t do this. I beg you.”
“…….”
“I know you’ve never listened to a plea before, but still, I beg you. Please go. And I hope we never have to see each other like this again.”
“Was there never a moment of happiness during the time we were together?”
His sudden voice pierced through evenly, monotonous. The heavy silence pressed down on her shoulders, her chest tightened. Whether the time with him had been happy or not was something only Olivia Blanchett could answer. She did not wish to answer.
“Tell me, Olivia.”
Johann slowly reached out, cupping her cheek and lifting her firmly clenched chin to capture her gaze.
There had surely been moments that were good, times by his side that were not entirely lonely or miserable.
“Tell me, Olivia. Please.”
Her soft pink lips parted slowly.
“……Every moment was……”
“Look at me. Look me in the eyes and say it, Olivia.”
He forced her slipping gaze toward him. Their eyes met fully again.
“It was horrible.”
Olivia slowly withdrew her hand from Johann, furrowing her brow. She really could not endure it.
If anyone deserves to fall into hell for this, it’s not me—it’s you, Duke.
Diane Brooke’s curse echoed vividly in her ears.
Horrible. A twisted smile tugged at Johann’s lips. He had already known the answer—it matched exactly what he had expected. And yet, there was only one reason he had dug so deeply.
“I’ll cut out all those memories for you.”
“…….”
“So, let’s start over, Olivia.”
“You already squandered any chance to do that. Don’t act like this now.”
Looking fully into the man’s gray eyes, she spoke coldly, wishing he would leave.
“Now you say it’s love. But isn’t it too late for that?”
“…….”
Olivia’s face froze. In the deep, quiet silence, his voice echoed dully.
Love. The word made her eyes tremble.
Nowhere in the novel was there a single line that said he loved Olivia. Not one line. He was confessing to the wrong person. And yet… he called it love.
“……Crazy.”
Olivia murmured, dazed. Johann let out a low chuckle.
“No. You’re not even fully crazy yet.”
His gaze lingered on her, loose and heavy, a seductive smile slowly spreading from his lips.
The wall clock chimed ten, its bell shrieking like a scream. In the deep night, in the midst of overwhelming fear, Olivia’s heart raced uncontrollably as a warm breath touched her earlobe.
“Let’s go back, Olivia. To Great Hill.”
His refined smile traced his delicate features elegantly.
I have to run, Han Ji-an! Run before you fall into the trap of that irresistible smile!
She wanted to believe it was a dream, but last night had been reality. Olivia stared at the Lemongé ticket lying on the table—a proof that Johann had been there.
Sighing deeply, she looked out the window. The golden afternoon sunlight hung loosely among the firs and plane trees in the park.
“Now you say it’s love. But isn’t it too late for that?”
The heavy voice had tormented her all night. She didn’t even remember how she had turned away the uninvited man.
“Let’s start over, Olivia.”
The gentle sunlight unsettled her mind, made her anxious.
The sound of the front door opening and closing drew her gaze to the parlor entrance. Anne had returned from her outing to inquire about the ship to Nostia.
“Miss, I’m back!”
After two days of coming up empty-handed, Anne’s face was bright today. The migration to the New World had become a trend. She had waited in a long line but finally managed to purchase two tickets.
“It’s the ship leaving at 8 p.m. in two days, Miss.”
“Thank you, Anne.”
Olivia looked down at the tickets in her hands with deep eyes.
“You want me to chase after you? Then I will.”
No… it had been a month since leaving by ship. Could he really come all the way there? No, he wouldn’t.
Olivia forced her anxiety down. In a few days… there really weren’t many left.
She held the tickets tightly and prayed fervently that she could depart safely.
